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<img src="Images/MSRSCodePage.jpg" alt="MSRS Code Page Home" border="0" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="Images/HomeBanner.gif" alt="Microsoft Robotics Studio Code Page" />
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<p class="heading"><span class="dropcap">O</span>verview</p>
<p>
Welcome to the page for my MSRS (<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/robotics">Microsoft Robotics Studio</a>) code.
</p>
<p>
<a href="Images/X80y_L.jpg"><img src="Images/X80y_S.jpg" align="left" alt="X80 Robot" border="0" /></a> I am
working on code for my X80 Robots, Tobor and Gelb, so that they can
be controlled using MSRS.
This is what Gelb looks like. (Click on the picture for a larger view.)<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<a href="http://www.drrobot.com/products_item.asp?itemNumber=X80">X80 robots</a> are manufactured by <a href="http://www.drrobot.com">Dr.Robot, Inc.</a> in Canada. They have Wireless
Ethernet to connect back to a host computer. Onboard sensors include
a pan and tilt camera, sonar, infra-red and of course wheel encoders.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
I have completed work on a program to control an X80 using a
PDA with WiFi. (See my <a href="http://sky.fit.qut.edu.au/~taylort2/X80/">X80 Home Page</a> for details.)
This was the first step in porting my code across to
MSRS because it involved translating from unmanaged C++ under Visual
Studio 2003 to managed C# under Visual Studio 2005 (the MSRS development
environment).
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<h2>Site Contents</h2>
<p>This site contains code examples for use with the Microsoft
Robotics Studio. I will continue to add to it over time.
My ultimate objective is to provide a set of modules for use in an
introductory Robotics Course. Note that the target audience is high school
or undergraduate students with a limited amount of programming experience.
Also, my interests are Computer Vision and SLAM (Simultaneous Localization
and Mapping). This requires a fair amount of work.
</p>
<p>
Comments, feedback and suggestions are welcome. Please send e-mail to me using the
address in the page footer. Some additional <a href="#Personal">personal
details</a> are available below.
</p>
<p>
Please note that I cannot provide support for MSRS -- there are not enough hours
in the day! You should use the
<a href="http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=383&SiteID=1">Discussion Forums</a>
provided by Microsoft.
</p>
<p>
If you are interested in technical details, you are welcome to read my development notes
for the <a href="MazeSimulator/MazeSimulatorNotes.txt">Maze Simulator</a> and 
<a href="Intro/IntroNotes.txt">Intro Program</a> that I made while working on the code.
These are just raw notes. At some stage I might extract the useful info and put it
on a web page.
</p>
<p>
If you are new to MSRS, I suggest that you download the code below for the Maze
Simulator, Intro Program and Explorer. Once you can get these
programs running, you can start experimenting with the code.
</p>

<h3>Software</h3>
<p>The following software is continuously under development.
I don't claim that this is wonderful code -- but it works!</p>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="Intro/Intro.htm">Intro to Autonomous Robotics</a> A sample program
that uses the bump sensors on a simulated Pioneer robot to allow it to
wander around inside a maze. REQUIRES THE MAZE SIMULATOR BELOW.
</li>
<li>
<a href="ExplorerSim/Explorer.htm">Explorer Sim</a> A sample program
that uses the Laser Range Finder on a simulated Pioneer robot to allow it to
wander around inside a maze and build a map. REQUIRES THE MAZE SIMULATOR 
AND SIMULATED DIFFERENTIAL DRIVE BELOW.
</li>
<li><a href="MazeSimulator/MazeSimulator.htm">Maze Simulator</a> An updated
version of the original code posted by Ben Axelrod on Channel 9. It creates
a maze-like world in the Simulator based on a simple bitmap image for the maze.
</li>
<li><a href="Dashboard/Dashboard.htm">Simple Dashboard Mod</a> Changes to the
Simple Dashboard to remember configuration settings and display a WebCam view.
</li>
<li><a href="DifferentialDriveTT/DiffDrive.htm">Simulated Differential Drive</a> Changes to the
Simulated Differential Drive to support RotateDegrees and DriveDistance functions
as well as to provide pose information for mapping.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
The following version is available now:<br />
<a href="http://sky.fit.qut.edu.au/~taylort2/MSRS/Downloads/QUTJul2007.zip">QUT MSRS Apps</a> 18-Jul-2007<br />
This version was built with the version 1.5 release of MSRS.
It is provided as a complete package with all of the services included.
Please read the <a href="readme.txt">readme.txt</a> for installation instructions.<br />
</p>

<h2><a name="Personal">Who Am I?</a></h2>
<p>
My name is Trevor Taylor. I am a Lecturer in the
<a href="http://www.fit.qut.edu.au">Faculty of Information Technology</a>
at the <a href="http://www.qut.edu.au">Queensland University of Technology</a>
in Brisbane, Australia.
My research interests include Computer Vision and Robotics.<br />
Please go to my <a href="http://sky.fit.qut.edu.au/~taylort2">home page</a>
for more information and contact details, or use the e-mail link below.
</p>

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Last Updated: 18-Jul-2007
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